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Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:50 am
by delicat
Hello.

I'm just about to start building a custom snorkel (all parts waiting in my garage, :-D ) using 3" stainless tubing with a silicone jointer (might weld it instead, not sure yet) to deal with the outside curved wall panel and a 90* silicone bend going through the panel and directly to the air filter via a short pipe. I also have a Safari snorkel head at the top. Don't want to do it Russian style (inside the B pillar) as it would be way too noisy.

My questions:

Should I have any concerns with the snorkel head coming up above the roof or just leveled to it (high roof) given the airflow movement above the roof? (negative air pressure?)

I could use the original air filter/canister and weld a 3" inlet but I'm very tempted to discard this unit and replace it with a shorter K&N filter with custom canister that would allow me to place a remote oil filter (by-pass filter...) underneath. Suggestions?

Going through the double walled panel... should I be fine with a drain hole at the bottom or should I seal the panel where the pipe (silicone) goes through?

I'm sure more questions will come as I get it started but thanks in advance.

Cheers,
David

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 1:25 pm
by almac
looking forward to the pics! :-)
Image

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:01 pm
by jessef
Having run snorkles up here in the past on cruisers, I would put the intake head above the roof line to get the most/cleanest air flow possible. That's the rule of thumb for snorkles.

No such thing as too much forced air with snorkles.

I would either leave the stock cleaner or replace it with one similar to the pajero's (oval shape) with the canister as it has a water catch/drain. That's your last line of defense for any intruding water.

Drill away !

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:56 pm
by delicat
Talking with Sasquatch he mentioned that the Safari snorkel has a feature at the bottom of that traps the water (and can be drained). I haven't figure yet how I'll be doing that part, might bring the tube between the 90* elbow and the canister (tube going through the wall) to have an incline so that water would stay at the bottom of the "hill" but not sure if it'd be sufficient. I need to come up with a drain that would be below the lowest tube in the system and where the water would collect and not travel forwards... The Safari head already has a good system to get rid of the water, I'm just looking for extra insurance.

It seems like the 300 canister has a drain plug at the bottom, different on the Pajero? Haven't seen what they look for so if someone's got a picture that'd be great.

The K&N being an oil type filter should deal with water much better than the paper one in the Delica, that's another option...

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:31 am
by wetcoast
Don't take this the wrong way.... but after taking the time to collect all the parts, research the set-up and manfacture the snorkel... wouldn't it have been cheaper, faster and have better performance if you just bought one off the shelf??

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:59 am
by delicat
wetcoast wrote:Don't take this the wrong way.... but after taking the time to collect all the parts, research the set-up and manfacture the snorkel... wouldn't it have been cheaper, faster and have better performance if you just bought one off the shelf??
No, it's still a lot cheaper to do it yourself, a lot more fun and there's just something about making your own stuff that I can't get by buying off the shelf. But each our own... as long as we use it at the end of the day :-D . I'll give more details on price and all once I drill the first hole in my body panel 8-) .

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:45 am
by after oil
delicat wrote:
wetcoast wrote:Don't take this the wrong way.... but after taking the time to collect all the parts, research the set-up and manfacture the snorkel... wouldn't it have been cheaper, faster and have better performance if you just bought one off the shelf??
No, it's still a lot cheaper to do it yourself, a lot more fun and there's just something about making your own stuff that I can't get by buying off the shelf. But each our own... as long as we use it at the end of the day :-D . I'll give more details on price and all once I drill the first hole in my body panel 8-) .
if it works well for you, maybe we'll mimic it. im on the list for a $300 snorkel if we get the ten buyers, so hurry! 8-)

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:51 am
by Meanman
David....you building the snorkel for actual use? performance gain? or general LCF (look cool factor)?

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:29 pm
by wetcoast
delicat wrote:
wetcoast wrote:Don't take this the wrong way.... but after taking the time to collect all the parts, research the set-up and manfacture the snorkel... wouldn't it have been cheaper, faster and have better performance if you just bought one off the shelf??
No, it's still a lot cheaper to do it yourself, a lot more fun and there's just something about making your own stuff that I can't get by buying off the shelf. But each our own... as long as we use it at the end of the day :-D . I'll give more details on price and all once I drill the first hole in my body panel 8-) .
Are you talking mounting holes... or actual big hole for the air to get inside the engine compartment?

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:55 pm
by Aztec Nomad
delicat wrote:
My questions:

Should I have any concerns with the snorkel head coming up above the roof or just leveled to it (high roof) given the airflow movement above the roof? (negative air pressure?)

I

Hey,
You would have to have to stick the snorkel up 3 feet or more to get out of the disturbed air caused by the van. There already is a negative air pressure in your airbox as it is. Ram air doesn't really benefit anything until speeds reach around 100mph as far as know, and last time I checked a Delica might have problems reaching that speed.
Adam

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:57 pm
by Aztec Nomad
delicat wrote:Talking with Sasquatch he mentioned that the Safari snorkel has a feature at the bottom of that traps the water (and can be drained). I haven't figure yet how I'll be doing that part, might bring the tube between the 90* elbow and the canister (tube going through the wall) to have an incline so that water would stay at the bottom of the "hill" but not sure if it'd be sufficient. I need to come up with a drain that would be below the lowest tube in the system and where the water would collect and not travel forwards... The Safari head already has a good system to get rid of the water, I'm just looking for extra insurance.
.
Hey,
You could always red green it and install a P-Trap for plumbing. Water would gather down in the bottom and just have a quick drain that screws in the bottom.
Adam

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 1:50 pm
by Green1
Aztec Nomad wrote:
delicat wrote:Talking with Sasquatch he mentioned that the Safari snorkel has a feature at the bottom of that traps the water (and can be drained). I haven't figure yet how I'll be doing that part, might bring the tube between the 90* elbow and the canister (tube going through the wall) to have an incline so that water would stay at the bottom of the "hill" but not sure if it'd be sufficient. I need to come up with a drain that would be below the lowest tube in the system and where the water would collect and not travel forwards... The Safari head already has a good system to get rid of the water, I'm just looking for extra insurance.
.
Hey,
You could always red green it and install a P-Trap for plumbing. Water would gather down in the bottom and just have a quick drain that screws in the bottom.
Adam
the factory air filter box has a drain valve in the bottom already, as long as you don't change that, you should be ok.

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:27 pm
by Meanman
Aztec Nomad wrote:
delicat wrote:
My questions:

Should I have any concerns with the snorkel head coming up above the roof or just leveled to it (high roof) given the airflow movement above the roof? (negative air pressure?)

I

Hey,
You would have to have to stick the snorkel up 3 feet or more to get out of the disturbed air caused by the van. There already is a negative air pressure in your airbox as it is. Ram air doesn't really benefit anything until speeds reach around 100mph as far as know, and last time I checked a Delica might have problems reaching that speed.
Adam
On the dyno at work (for Motorcycles) we see an increase of upto 3-5 hp just by positioning a cooling fan towards the airbox intake....that fan does not push 100 mph air flow. In saying that we are talking 1550cc-1800cc gas engines normally aspirated not 2.5 turbo diesels.

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:43 pm
by delicat
Green1 wrote:
Aztec Nomad wrote:
delicat wrote:Talking with Sasquatch he mentioned that the Safari snorkel has a feature at the bottom of that traps the water (and can be drained). I haven't figure yet how I'll be doing that part, might bring the tube between the 90* elbow and the canister (tube going through the wall) to have an incline so that water would stay at the bottom of the "hill" but not sure if it'd be sufficient. I need to come up with a drain that would be below the lowest tube in the system and where the water would collect and not travel forwards... The Safari head already has a good system to get rid of the water, I'm just looking for extra insurance.
.
Hey,
You could always red green it and install a P-Trap for plumbing. Water would gather down in the bottom and just have a quick drain that screws in the bottom.
Adam
the factory air filter box has a drain valve in the bottom already, as long as you don't change that, you should be ok.
That'd be the easy way to keep original canister, and could be very effective if I could locate a K&N filter that would fit the canister. I thought about the plumbing drain pipe, I'll figure it out I'm sure! Where there's space there's options!

Re: Custom L300 snorkel.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:30 pm
by BCDelica
Try to think of positive input for you David, but can’t really come up with anything. Plenty of diesels with snorkels on this side of the pond, and every home built one faces to the rear. Many are made from exhaust pipe. Even the odd ARB unit, half of which has the intake faces rearward, which makes sense because monsoon season just ended.

A diesel benefits for increased and unrestricted airflow, buts does a big wheeled white brick generate enough pressure differential to create a ram air effect whilst cruising the roads of Vancouver or prowling the logging roads of southwestern BC (when I grow up I want to be good with adjectives like Falco). A forward facing intake is going to gather all the wetcoast precipitation it can, do your design ideas have a direction changeable intake?

Looking forward to pictures!